To keep a printer in proper operating condition, it is necessary periodically to perform service operations on the working components thereof. An ink-jet printer, for example, requires frequent servicing of its printhead so as to maintain print quality. Such servicing also helps to prevent unnecessarily rapid deterioration of the printhead, a characteristic which is due in large part to the accumulation of particulate in the vicinity of the printhead nozzle. More specifically, print quality and printhead deterioration result from the gathering of such particulate in the nozzle's ink port so as to plug the flow of ink.
In order to address the aforementioned problem, it is conventional to equip an ink-jet printer with apparatus by which the printer's printhead may be wiped and capped by servicing members which are mounted on a servicing apparatus. Most conventional servicing apparatus, however, have required operator intervention, often taking the printer off-line for extended periods of time. Such apparatus have also been prone to printhead contamination where plural printheads are employed, and have experienced problems related to interference between the servicing members and the printhead carriage.
Improved servicing apparatus have been proposed which provide solutions for the various problems set forth above, but such solutions tend to require complex servicing member delivery structure, increasing finished product cost. One such apparatus is described in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/949,197 entitled "Ink-jet Printhead Capping and Wiping Method and Apparatus", which was filed on Sep. 21, 1992, and which is owned commonly herewith. Another is set forth in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/954,846 entitled "Printhead Servicing Station for Printers", which was filed on Sep. 30, 1992, and which is also commonly owned herewith. The disclosures of these patent applications are incorporated herein by the present references thereto.